


I've Got a Hero (Living in Me)

by DaggersNRoses9194



Category: One Direction (Band), Spider-Man (Comicverse)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - High School, Black Cat - Freeform, Bullying, Hurt Louis, Hybrid Louis, M/M, Spider-Man - Freeform, Spider-Man Harry, Superheroes, Ultimate Spider-Man - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-04-23 22:44:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4895125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaggersNRoses9194/pseuds/DaggersNRoses9194
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Black Cat and Spider-Man are the two most known names in London. They are the heroes that save the city from criminals. However..who are they really? How did they get their special attributes? Who calls the shots? And the most important question...what happens when they are faced with their greatest enemy yet? Will they be doomed, or will they only become closer?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of Louis. Feel free to cry. T_T

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Hai! I've had this idea, used it as a roleplay for about a year now, give or take. Hopefully I can finish this as a fic aha. But enjoy!
> 
> Questions?  
> IG-@1d_has_no_chill  
> Kik-SaluteforLarry

"If I lay here.. If I just lay here, would you lie with me and..just forget the world?" the soft, melodic voice of Gary Lightbody filled the young boy's room. The slight static noise disrupted the tune since the radio being used was old and without a proper signal.

"Forget what we're told, before-" 

"LOUIS!" a loud boom sounded throughout the small building, making the boy jump and quickly turn the radio off, speeding downstairs.

"Y-Yes, Mark..?" asked the fourteen-year-old, clearly scared of the burly man.

Mark's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the tiny boy, hatred in his eyes. "I told you to take out the god damn trash. Are you such a dumbass that you can't listen?" he questioned venomously.

Louis shrunk back a bit, trying not to start shaking in freight in front of his step father. "I-I forgot..I'm sorry.." he just about whispered. He hated when he had to be around Mark. He was always scary and mean to him.

The older man took the chance and got up, grabbing Louis by the front of his shirt and pulling him to his face as he clenched his jaw. Anger burned brightly in his eyes. "You forgot?!" he yelled, spit smacking the child in the face. "You good for nothing brat! Do it now before I 'forget' to feed you!" the man spat, shoving Louis hard enough to make him hit the ground with a thud.

Louis tried to fight back his tears, shakily getting up as he saw his mother leave the doorway to go back into the kitchen, avoiding getting near Mark's yelling like she always did.

When Mark took off the his bedroom after hearing his phone ring, Louis rushed to get the garbage out into the dumpster in the alleyway as he let a couple tears fall down his round cheeks. Since his stepfather came into his and his mother's life, it had been a constant pattern of yelling, insults, and excessive chores. Jay had done everything she could to stay out of Mark's way, letting her only child take on the full heat of the older man's rage. 

It made Louis too scared to be in that rundown house his real father had left behind for him, but school wasn't any better. His peers were constantly rude to him, with the teachers always seeing and hearing nothing. The young boy poured his heart and soul into his schoolwork, only succeeding in the other kids torturing him for being a nerd as well.

Louis endured though. He could get through it, right?

When he went back inside after disposing of the trash, Mark's deep tone made him jump once again. 

"Okay, you little shit," Mark began, a wide grin on his face. It was the closest expression to happy Louis had ever seen with him since...ever. "In an hour, you're out of my house for good. Go grab whatever the fuck you want of yours and be out of this door in five minutes. Don't leave the property or else your little whore of a mother will be on her way into the fucking ground. I don't need her or you for money anymore. Go. Now!" he ordered, raising his voice suddenly.

Louis jumped up and ran upstairs, grabbing his radio along with a picture of his mother and himself by a Christmas tree when he was five years old, just before his real father left. The last picture of when he was truly happy.

He went downstairs and hurried to the kitchen. He needed to say goodbye to his mummy. She was his world, after all. 

"M-Mummy, I-"

"Just get out, Louis," Jay said quietly, tears in her eyes as she quickly turned away. She looked terrified as well as upset.

A knife pierced Louis' heart at his mother's dismissive words. Did she really just say that? Did he really not matter anymore? She was the only one he had left, and for her to say that...

"I love you, Mummy," came his broken whisper before he rushed to the door and went outside quickly. He sat in the dead grass of the yard as he waited for whoever to come, knowing it was probably more bad people coming to get him. 

It was always bad people, ever since his dad left. They would come in smelling like the smelly drink stuff Mark always had, disappearing with his mother while he sat in his room, playing or waiting for food. But then Mark came along and he stayed. He was definitely never a nice man. He always had something to yell at Louis for, and it hurt. Especially when his mother didn't help. What did she always used to sing him to sleep?

"Lean into me, believe in me and I'll keep you safe my darling. I'll be here for you sweet prince, I'll stand by your side my boy.." was it, and now Louis realized he was whispering the lyrics over and over, rocking slowly as tears fell down his cheeks. His world was falling apart. Everything was changing now. What was he going to do?

A scream cut off Louis' whispering and crying when a searing pain hit his arm, looking over quickly and seeing some adults, one with a needle in his arm. He could feel everything going away as his eyes drooped, his world finally going black as his body fell limp.

-*-

Pain. Pain was the only thing Louis could feel when he came to, especially in his ears and his lower back. What was going on?

Suddenly, the pain came to a halt when he jolted fully awake, jumping to his feet with an odd ease. He felt lighter, and he didn't get the normal sensation of wanting to fall over.

He felt something like a leg swinging back and forth behind him, finding that he could control its movement as he made it stop and swing around to at least get a glance at.

Louis gasped in surprise when he was met with what looked like a cat's tail, brown and fluffy. He gently made it twitch to make sure what he was looking at was what he could move now. As he suspected, this animal tail was now something that was part of him.

His head snapped up as he felt his ears move as well. His eyes met with a mirror, showing an image of himself with weird dark brown cats' ears instead of his regular ones as well as the same tail swinging in an upward position from behind him. He could feel that it was connected to his backside.

There was only one thing he could think of to do, and that was to scream in terror.

-*-

The place he had been taken to was a lab, and some mean-ish lady with long, black hair and a mask had told him he was the only one to survive taking the "T5783" serum or whatever. He could only assume that that stuff is what gave him the cat parts, as well as the ability to jump higher, run faster, and lift heavier things, as he had come to find out.

Over the next three weeks, Louis was forced to do exercising, jumping, running, and other "tests" the white-clothed people made him do. When he wasn't doing all of that, they made him sit in a white cell with only a toilet and a bed without anything to do.

After taking his daily weight lifting test, Louis was led back to his cell and locked inside. Looking up, he blinked as he saw that there was a spot above the top of the bars that wasn't covered. It was just big enough of an area which he could get out of.

Not really knowing if he could do it, Louis braced himself before leaping as high as he could and barely gripping the top of the twelve-foot-tall bars, able to heave himself over them with ease.

Landing on his feet without making a sound, Louis ran as fast as he could down the hallway and out to the testing area, biting his lip and dodging white-clothed men and women trying to stop or grab him. His ears perked up as he heard the chaotic shouting being paired up with a loud alarm. Louis was in big trouble.

Louis managed to get past the testing area and out to another hallway. Looking up slightly, he was able to quickly glance at and follow the signs that read "Exit", bursting out through a red door and tearing it completely off with a gasp. Oops.

He had no time to act and began climbing up the stone wall surrounding the facility, running across the top until he got to an area with a short drop down distance that he knew he could survive, jumping down and running away from the giant building.

He hated that place. He hated those people. That main black haired lady. They changed him forever. He was a half animal! What was he supposed to do?

Louis just kept on running and running as fast as he could. He had to get away.

-*-

Louis finally found his way back to London, the city he grew up in. He knew he was there by the signs.

On the way, he had practiced wrapping his tail around his waist to look like a belt, and he had found a tattered beanie that just abandoned, so he wore it to cover his ears.

He knew he needed to eat, so he started looking around restaurants to see if there was garbage that he could eat perhaps. He used to dig in the dumpster back at home in the same manner as when Mark refused to give him food as "punishment".

Able to find a little bit of half eaten garlic bread, Louis downed it quickly since it had been a while since he had eaten.

"Um..hello..?" a gentle female's voice sounded, making Louis tense up and snap his head towards the owner.

About five feet away stood a man and a woman, staring at Louis curiously, probably never having seen such a young boy in such need to dig for a meal.

As Louis moved to run the man made him stop. "No son, it's okay. We won't hurt you.." he said with a gentle voice, holding his hands up.

The woman's eyes grew soft as she looked Louis up and down. "Let us order you food and get you a shower at our flat. You look like you haven't been taken good care of for days, Love," she said softly, stepping back a bit.

After studying the couple's sincere faces, Louis slowly nodded and followed them away from the dirty dumpster.

-*-

Louis had figured out that this couple was actually pretty nice. Their names were Thomas (Tommy) and Stariel (Star) Sanders. They were both in their thirties and just married when he met them. 

At first, Louis hadn't trusted them. He had just taken them up on their offer before leaving to the streets. They always managed to find him, though, and got food and clothes for him, letting him use their shower when he wanted. So, after three weeks of the back and forth, the Sanders offered him a place in their home. He had gladly accepted.

It had been two years and Louis was feeling better. Yes, he was still bullied at school, but he knew that Tommy and Star wouldn't hurt him. He considered them his aunt and uncle of sorts.

At first, Louis had opted to be home-schooled because of his ears and tail. However, Tommy and Star gave him the idea to wear baggy shirts and wrap his tail around his waist, while wearing a beanie to cover his ears. He didn't mind the idea, and he knew that they had his back, so he decided to return to school. Yeah, he hated the bullying, but he preferred being in a classroom rather than learning on his own. He could do it, but it got boring after a while. It was also really lonely. He hated being alone.

One day, the sixteen-year-old Louis was walking home from school. No big deal, he loved to walk. He had a lot of energy to burn off and he loved seeing the city. He hummed a soft tune to himself before digging for his phone - gifted to him on his fifteenth birthday - when he heard the chime to alert him of a text.

'help' was all the text said, Star's contact name showing up. Louis frowned as he looked over the text. Star was a total grammar freak. She would be kicking her own ass if she saw what she sent. Why did she send it like that? Was she okay..? 

He wasted no time dwelling on it further, starting to run towards his home. He was a bit worried. He didn't want to lose this new family. He couldn't. They were all he had left. Paranoia wasn't too bad of an issue if it meant he could save Star, and possibly Tommy as well.

Running and bursting through the door, Louis was surprised by the rank scent of blood that hit his nose. He started to look around and stopped dead when he saw one of the most horrific scenes of his life.

Tommy was laying on the floor, curled up with his hands on his chest. There was blood spatter and a trail of blood going down the wall, straight to Tommy's body. There was also some blood on the floor. As Louis walked closer, he could see that Tommy had gunshot wounds in his chest. However, Tommy wasn't moving. Louis knew in the back of his head what that meant. However, he was too numb to think. A sight of ginger hair in the corner of his eye made him turn to behind the couch, eyes falling upon Star's body. She was in a lump, a gunshot in her back and her head positioned in an awkward way, indicating that her neck was broken. She wasn't moving either.

Louis stood there for what seemed like forever, not moving and breath labored. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. They were gone...all gone. Dead, wasted, whatever the fuck. Just gone. He finally raised his hand up and wiped at his cheek, feeling the wetness of tears. He just realized the stinging in his eyes and his body jerk as he let out a sob, the full force of what happened hitting him. The only thing left he could do was to call the police.

-*-

Not much of anything happened after that. The police came, took his statement, and cleaned up the place. Since Tommy's and Star's wills had him getting it, he decided to sell it to have money to live on, probably just getting somewhere small. After all, who would hire a freak like him? 

He got a smaller flat and lived on the money for a good seven months, getting worried when his money was low. So, he learned the art of pickpocketing and started taking credit cards, withdrawing the money and making sure they didn't catch him. He also stole food and other things he needed. It was no big deal. He was doing okay. Until he heard about the owners of Michael's Jewels, a local jewelry store, going out of town. And everyone knew that Michael, the main owner, watched the cameras at night. Perfect.

That night, he decided to make his move. Wearing a hoodie and some black yoga pants for movement, he snuck in after picking the lock at the back door. Making sure to keep his footsteps quiet, he crept through the store, hopping over a large shelf to avoid the camera, over to the jewelry cases. He picked the locks to the cases and was about to reach the reach for the jewelry when he heard the cocking of a gun.

-*-

Paul Higgins was the chief of police for about twelve years. He was the top of his class at the academy and was on the force for ten long years before being offered the job. With his experience came many friends, including Michael and his husband Andre. The two had kindly asked him to keep an eye on their store while they were away, so he agreed. It was his day off, and he could afford to stay up the night. It was the weekend, so his daughter didn't need taken to or from school, and his wife was home to watch her so he could sleep.

So, he just leaned back and watched the cameras inside of the monitoring room. At first, he had glanced at his phone to answer to a text from his wife, and when he looked up he watched as a small boy carefully maneuvered around the store, keeping quiet and in a defensive position to keep safe. Paul was certainly intrigued.

He watched with wide eyes as the boy jumped clean over the shelf with some items on it without touching it or knocking it over. It was that moment that he made his way out to stop this boy. He could do some damage to Michael's and Andre's store.

Paul pulled out his gun and crept behind the boy, cocking it when he was close enough so the boy would hear.

-*-

Louis jumped and quickly turned around, holding his hands up. "Don't shoot! I'll leave!" he exclaimed. Shit, he was in deep trouble.

Paul raised an eyebrow. "You're coming with me, Kid," he said, making Louis turn around so he could cuff him. Since the boy seemed too scared to stop him, he put the cuffs on him and led him to the monitoring room. He would keep an eye on him until morning.

Louis bit his lip as he was sat down in the chair, his mask taken off by the cop to reveal his ears, which were flattened a bit. He was terrified. 

Paul's eyes widened when he saw the ears, swallowing thickly and sitting in front of Louis. "What's your name, son? Why did you do it?" he asked him softly. He had to calm this kid down. He didn't look more than sixteen or seventeen.

Louis looked at his lap as he thought about what to say. "L-Louis Tomlinson. I need money," he said quietly, voice barely heard by Paul.

Paul studied Louis carefully. The kid certainly looked poor, clothes worn out and ragged. He felt a bit of pity for the boy. His ears possibly meant he was scorned, but he had such skill. "Why don't you have a job instead?"

Louis shook his head slowly, sighing. "Who would hire me? I'm a freak," he murmured.

Paul thought about it. "I'll pay you. Pass my tests, and I'll hire you to work for the police. I'll make sure you don't get charged with tonight's events, okay?" he asked him. So many crimes were happening lately. Maybe this kid could help.

Louis shook his head quickly. "People at school will make fun of me," he said. That was part of the reason, but he also didn't want the people at the lab finding him.

Paul smiled softly as an idea popped into his head. "We'll get you a mask and a suit to disguise yourself if you want. Only I will know who you are, but you'll need an alias to use if people ask."

Louis opened his mouth to protest before he considered it, not saying anything. He wouldn't go to jail, he could get money, and he could help people in need. But what would he use as a name? His ears perked up, catching the faint sound of the radio that Paul had used to entertain himself, hearing Black Cat by Janet Jackson playing. He was instantly taken back to his real father learning how to play the guitar with that song, earning a big kiss on the head when he played it for his mother, no matter how bad it was. At that moment in time, he had only one name in his head.

"Black Cat."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's story. :3 Enjoy! Sorry it's a bit short. :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I've seen the Amazing SM movie, so I'm making up the bite ordeal. Also, it's my AU, so what? Anyways.. thank you for reading! xx
> 
> Also, I'm in no way saying the people in real life are how they are portrayed in this fic. I promise.

Harry sighed to himself as he opened the front door, walking inside. He was just arriving from his final day of school for the summer, and he was immensely grateful. He didn't live in that big of a house, since he was only him, his mum, sister, and father. However, his father, Des, had made sure they had a big basement. He was a scientist, after all. 

Harry had been interested in what Des did ever since he was little. He felt especially excited when he was allowed to help out with an experiment. 

He rushed down the stairs into the basement, remembering that Des was finally going to tell him what he was doing this time. He was really excited to find out when he had helped his father catch spiders the week before. 

"Dad! I'm home!" the thirteen-year-old called when he flung the basement door open. He grinned as he saw Des peering into a covered fish tank with a single spider inside. In the bottom corner of the tank was a web diagonal from the corner. There were about three insects inside of it, wrapped up and ready to eat.

Des smiled over at Harry when he saw him. "Hey Haz. How was school today?"

Harry shrugged and gave him a smile back. "It was alright. Same old same old," he replied before looking back at the spider. "What's this one about?"

Des chuckled softly. "This spider is a Sydney Funnel-Web. All of the ones we found died when I tried to expose them to radiation, so I called in a favor to my mate from Aussie. She survived, but now we want to see what her venom will do because of the treatments. I need you to find me a squirrel or something, if you will," he said, grinning over at Harry.

Harry nodded and smiled softly before thinking about something. He lifted the lid of the tank, eyes going wide as the spider quickly pounced on his hand and bit down, making the skin sting.

Des gasped and quickly picked up the spider since he had gloves on, putting it back into the tank and closing the lid before it could try to jump out once again.

Harry got a tissue and dabbed at the blood coming from the pretty (disgusting) welt forming on his hand from the bite.

Des rushed over to a drawer and pulled out a needle and alcohol swab, grabbing Harry's arm and prepping him with the swab. He quickly put the needle in, injecting the anti-venom to make sure Harry didn't die. He then cleaned and bandaged the bite, narrowing his eyes at Harry. "What the fuck was that Harry? You could have been killed!" he exclaimed.

Harry flinched at Des' tone. "I didn't know..I'm sorry, dad. Ow, this hurts.." he breathed out, pulling his injured hand close to his chest.

Des sighed softly and shook his head. "I'm just glad you're okay. But go upstairs and get some ice. Maybe take some medicine. I'm sure that isn't very pleasant."

Harry bit his lip from the sting and went upstairs, doing just that. He went to his bedroom to see if he could take a nap.

-*-

Weeks went by, and there was a massive change in Harry. It was as if he had a growth spurt, height jumping up to 5'10" (1.778 m) and muscles becoming oddly defined at such a young age. He looked like he was at least seventeen. He found it odd that no one had said anything, but he felt it was better that way. In addition to that, Harry found out he could do certain... things. How he found out went a little like this: Harry was pacing a bit in his room as he looked down at his arms, flexing his muscles. It was odd to be so built with no explanation. He frowned as he felt a slight tense on the bottom of his palm of his right hand. He brought up his ring and index fingers to press down on the tense area, gasping as a strange silk shot out of his finger, sticking to his lamp. As he pulled it back to try and get away, it forced his lamp to fall over. With another press to the tense muscle, the silk disconnected and landed on the floor.

Harry blinked quickly and looked down at his broken lamp and the silky rope. He couched down and studied the silk closer. Was that a spider web..? It looked like it. That was odd. Very much so. 

He then reached down and grabbed the broken lamp, eyes widening as he couldn't get it off of his hand. It was stuck! What the fuck? Harry tried to take it off, getting it stuck on his other hand. He finally used his elbow to knock it off, huffing. 

This was all weird. But..it was time to do some testing of his own. He learned from the best, after all. 

-*-

He was able to keep his odd abilities from his father, mother, sister, and everyone for about a year. The growth spurt had interested Des, as Harry could see, but he didn't act on it. 

Harry was fourteen now, and he thought he was going to be left alone one Sunday afternoon. He thought. 

He was just reading a book to himself until he looked up and saw a fly on the ceiling. 

He hummed softly as he climbed up his wall to get to the fly as it kept buzzing around, smirking to himself as he quickly slapped it. He had amazing reflexes. 

Harry stared at the squashed fly, curling his lip back a bit. He had tried a fly once. Just because he had some spider-like attributes didn't mean he liked flies as well. Quite the opposite. 

As he wiped his hand off his jeans, eyes widening as he heard his mother's voice. "Harry?!"

Anne stared at Harry, bewildered. "What the hell? Get down here now!" she exclaimed. She turned and yelled out, "Des get your ass up here!"

Harry bit his lip, trying not to tear up. Why was his mum freaking out? Was he that weird..? He quickly dropped back down to his feet, putting his hands behind his back. 

Des soon appeared in Harry's room, frowning confusedly at his wife's tone. "What's wrong?" he asked. 

Anne glared at Des. "What's wrong? You turned our son into a freak! Tell me, which of your dumbass experiments was it? Tell me god dammit!" she screamed. 

Harry quickly wiped at a tear that fell down his cheek. He had to keep himself together. 

Des gave her a look. "Anne, I have no idea what you're talking about or what's going on..." he trailed off. 

"Oh, naturally! Your son was on the fucking ceiling like some creepy spider!" she snapped, face one of disgust. "Fuck you and your freak show Des. I'm taking my daughter and getting out of here." Anne then proceeded to push past Des and grab Gemma from her room, taking her out by the arm. 

"Mum what's going on?" Gemma asked, squirming in her hold. "Mum! Stop!" she exclaimed, the door slamming before anything else could be heard. 

Harry looked down at his floor, numb. Did that really happen..? He just lost his mother. For real. That hurt so much..that she thought he was a freak. What about unconditional love?

She was gone. So was his sister. It was just him and Des now. 

-*-

Or so he thought. Des became more of the scientist than his father. He did experiments on Harry or left him alone to do others. It had gone like that for another two years. 

That's what made him confused when Des called him back downstairs after already having done whatever with him for the day. It was even more confusing when there was a policeman sitting with Des on the living room couch. 

Des grinned widely. "Harry, have a seat. This is Paul Higgins. He's the police chief of London. He would like to talk to you."

Harry slowly went over and sat down, eyeing Paul. Why was the police chief there? What was going on?

Paul smiled softly at Harry. "Hello, son. Your father has told me about you. Showed me some videos and things like that. I came here to offer you a job."

Harry blinked and frowned lightly. "A job?" 

Paul nodded. "There was another boy like you two days ago. With special abilities. I asked him to help the force. I would like to ask you the same. I could give you a costume if you want to keep your identity secret. This other boy did the same. I've even brought one for you to look at," he offered, giving Harry a bag. 

Harry peered into the bag and saw a blue and red skin tight costume, and it looked like it was a spider web design. And, of course, there was a spider on it. As he stared at it, he slowly realized it looked pretty cool. He looked at Paul. 

Paul smiled softly. "If you like it you can wear it. You just need an alias. The other boy is Black Cat."

Harry looked back down at the suit and blinked. He thought back to when he was little and he would play superheroes with Gemma, under Anne's supervision. 

"My Superman," Anne would call him, nothing but fondness and affection in her voice. 

He still loved his mother, but he used his abilities more than ever nowadays and he was actually pretty proud of them. He actually had saved a cat from a falling when they were out on the windowsill on an apartment building, the window locking it out. He could probably do a lot of good by doing this. He looked up as the thought for a name hit him. 

"Spider-Man."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I don't have an update schedule, but hopefully each update won't be more than a week apart. Thank you!
> 
> Questions/Suggestions?  
> IG-@1d_has_no_chill  
> Kik-SaluteforLarry


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little look into the school life of our heroes. (:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heheheh..hai. I'm here, never fear. Updates are shit and are going to be shit. I have terrible writer's block and to finish a chapter I have to be in a certain mood. It took me over a month to finish this one. But here you guys go.

The alarm buzzed loudly throughout the dark room, and almost as soon as it began ringing did a quick hand shut it off. 

A form sat up from the mattress resting on the floor, blue eyes glinting from the slight shine of the night light in the outlet next to the bed. The fluffy feline ears were perked up as the figure became more aware of the waking world, not caring about major lights to see since his eyesight was like a cat's: he could see in dim lighting. 

"Time for school, Louis," the boy whispered to himself, stretching his limbs before licking his hands and dragging them over his ears a few times. He yawned softly and stood up, tail flicking back and forth behind him after doing a stretch of its own. 

Louis went over to his pile of clothes, fuck folding, and picked out a baggy black and white striped shirt. Baggy shirts were all he had. He could bunch them up at his waist to help hide his tail. Pulling his shirt over his head, he dug and found a pair of pants. He couldn't tell what color they were. Blue? Black? Something like that. He wrapped his tail around his waist before pulling his trousers up and bunching up the shirt over them, using a ponytail to hold it in place. 

The small boy groaned to himself as he came to the worst part of his routine: putting on his beanie. Selecting a dark colored beanie, he flattened his ears and pulled the beanie on top of it. After so many years of keeping his ears flat, it wasn't very hard. It was, however, uncomfortable. That's why he disliked it.

It also made him feel like he was hiding, like a coward would. He didn't want to feel like a coward, but he didn't want to have to go back to that lab. He would rather live in fear than be taken back to that place. 

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Louis pulled on his pair of old sneakers and headed out the door to walk to school. 

-*-

Off in small house close to the school, a loud call sounded coming from a male. 

"Harry! Time for school!"

"I'll be down in a minute!" came a teen's voice. 

Harry looked up at himself in his bathroom mirror, grinning sheepishly at his curly mane of hair on his head. All he had done was run a brush through it. Oh, well. He had no time to make it any better. 

He was dressed in a pink polka-dot shirt and black jeans, with his favorite pair of boots. They were gold and snazzy looking. He loved them. 

Grabbing his bag, phone, and keys, Harry yelled goodbye to Des before hopping out his window since he was on the ground floor, running to his car only seven feet away. It was a black 2005 Ford Focus, in decent condition. 

He got in and threw his bag in the passenger's seat, speeding off to get to school. He, of course, obeyed traffic laws (except for speeding), hoping he wouldn't be late. 

-*-

Louis sighed deeply as he walked into his first class of the day, Calculus. He had his books held close to his chest and he kept quiet, sitting in the front. 

After blinking a few times, Louis looked to the board to read his directions before the official start of class. He quickly jotted the problem down in his notebook and solved it in his head, writing the answer. Math came easy to him, and he took full advantage of his ability to use his brain. It helped with his..job. 

There was still a couple of minutes until class started, giving the boy time to draw. Louis pulled out his small sketchbook that he just bought the day before and flipped to the page of a bird done in regular pencil. When he clicked out the lead from his pencil a few times, he started drawing in more feathers on the bird's wing to pass the time. 

Louis quickly looked up when the teacher snapped at the rowdy students to get quiet to begin class for the day. He sat up and closed his sketchbook, opening his Calc book to the page where the homework was the night before. He was ready for this. 

-*-

Harry parked his car and ran inside of the school, stopping at his locker to frantically dig for his science book. Shit shit shit, he was going to be late! 

He closed his locker and sped off towards his class, the hallway almost barren. He heard the loud chime of the bell and cursed, deciding to just run the rest of the way anyways. 

When he walked into the classroom he grinned sheepishly at all of the eyes on him. He was well liked around the school, and he was usually late to classes, so the teacher just scoffed and turned back around to finish writing notes on the board. 

Harry walked to the back to sit down, smiling at the students who said "Hello!" or "Good morning, Harry!" to him. 

He took his seat beside his best friend, Niall, grinning at him. "What did I miss this morning?" he murmured. 

Niall smirked slightly. "Joanne and Ashley got into a fight over you. Saying that you were going to take them to the homecoming game," he told him. He let out a slightly loud laugh, only to get glared at by the teacher, who had just started the lesson. 

Harry felt a bit of heat at his cheeks, but shook his head slightly. "I'm not taking either of them. I don't even want to go.." he groaned softly, leaning back. 

Niall looked at him, confused. "You have to go..you're footie captain, Haz!" 

Harry shrugged and sighed softly. "Of course I'm going..I just don't want to," he murmured softly. 

"Styles, Horan! Pay attention or get out of my classroom!" the teacher snapped at them, fed up with their talking. 

Harry bit his lip. "Sorry, ma'am!" he told her, opening his notebook as he got little giggles from the class. Today was going to be a day. 

-*-

Lunchtime. The time when a good chunk of the student body sat together in a room to eat, only supervised by a few - most of the time one or two - teachers. The student-teacher ratio was usually about forty-seven to one. 

Louis got his lunch and sat at the small table in the corner of the giant room, nibbling on a ham and cheese sandwich with semi stale wheat bread. It was just like a school to go healthy but not care about having the freshest food, food that students would enjoy eating. He would have to make do though. 

He sighed softly as he saw everyone stare at the door to watch Harry Styles walk into the room with his group of friends. Louis knew that Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik were Harry's closest friends. The other kids in the group were mainly ones he bullshitted with the most. 

Louis looked at Harry up and down, biting his lip. Since grade school, he had had a crush on the lad. He loved how bright and bubbly he always was. He also was intrigued by how Harry was so popular but yet such a nice person. He would let everyone have a say and was so kind to everyone he ran into, asking them how their day was and if they were alright. He was just a sweetheart. 

Snapping out of his thoughts, Louis moved his gaze to the three students walking towards him. Josh, Rich, and Taylor. He didn't want to do this today. Those three were his worst bullies, and in that small group of Harry's sort-of friends. He didn't even really know their last names. He just knew they were assholes. 

As he looked down to try and block them out, he tried to push himself to stand up for himself. He couldn't make himself do so. He needed his mask, his alias, to have to courage to be a hero for anyone, especially himself. He couldn't be a hero as just Louis. It was impossible. So he just took what the three dished out to him, hoping someone would save him for a change. 

-*- 

Harry grabbed his lunch and sat beside Niall at the table in the center of the room. They had been sitting there since freshman year, when the "popular kids" invited them there. When they graduated, the table got passed on to them. It was a tradition of sorts. 

Beside him, Harry heard Niall sigh loudly. "There they go again to bug that one kid. Can't they just leave him be?" he asked. 

Harry turned his head to look towards the corner where Louis sat, seeing the boy bow his head as his three...friends? Yeah, friends, he guessed. Anyways, he watched his three friends jab at the poor boy with smirks on their faces. 

Naturally, he felt a drive to go and help out his fellow senior, but he was scared. He was all heroic as Spider-Man, had been for a while. That's how Spider-Man was a household name. However..that wasn't really Harry. At least, he couldn't push himself to do so. He needed to be Spider-Man to be able to stand up for Louis. Louis was his name, he thought. 

He felt so terrible for Louis, and a bit sick with himself that he couldn't stand up for him. Louis looked like he couldn't, and he wouldn't do it. He just wished he could be Spider-Man in that moment and be a hero for Louis. 

And both boys, at that moment, thought the same thing. 

'I wish I could do it without the mask...'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed. Sorry for the wait!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm sorry it took me over a year to update this. I appreciate all of those who read this and I'm not sure if I'll finish it. Also, sorry the chapter here is so shitty.

Louis sighed as he made the trek home after school, the day playing over and over again in his head. He hated how the other kids always picked on him, and how he couldn't do anything about it. He was such a coward. 

Before Louis could go any further with his string of thoughts, his phone began to ring. He knew that tone anywhere. It was a call. 

He picked up the phone and asked, "What's the problem, Chief?" as he started to turn around, looking for somewhere to change. 

Paul sighed on the other line. "It's a hostage situation at the bank, Lou. Thomas Parker, the man you busted a few months back for the one robbery, he's demanding for you to come here. He wants you dead." A few months ago, Louis had caught Thomas red handed stealing from an old woman's house in the middle of the night. The old woman was Thomas's grandmother, and he was sentenced to five months in prison, along with broken family ties. 

Louis grew up with this kid, and knew he came from money (which Thomas blew frequently). And boy, did he love to rub it in Louis' face. Louis was just glad to be rid of Thomas from his life, but also he was glad he got Mrs. Parker justice from all of the precious valuables he had stolen from her, including her wedding ring. Her husband had just recently died when it disappeared, so it was even more upsetting and just plain wrong for Thomas to steal. 

But the past wasn't Louis' concern right now, keeping those hostages safe was. He ran into the nearest public bathroom and changed into his costume, rushing back out the door and climbing up a building. He started to jump from roof to roof, heading for the bank. 

Thomas wasn't going to get away with this. 

-*-

Harry had just gotten home when he had gotten the call about the holdup at the bank. He quickly ran up to his bedroom and changed, yelling goodbyes to his father (who probably didn't hear him anyways), before jumping out of the window. 

He used his web to swing from building to building, chuckling when a few onlookers below got out their phones to video him passing by. 

Harry got to the bank quickly and waited for his companion, Black Cat, to join him. 

Hearing a quiet sound of someone landing behind him, he looked back to this beautiful (did he just think that? Fuck it, he did) boy behind him. 

Black Cat was dressed in a form-fitting black bodysuit, with black combat boots and gloves. He also had a black eye mask, with his gorgeous, brown hair sat neatly on his head. His dark brown ears were perked and his equally colored tail swished slowly behind him. He was all serious as usual, ready for the job at hand. 

"You ready?" Black Cat asked him, his voice light and angelic to Harry's ears. It was a true honor to listen to this man speak. His voice was like feeling silk, which reminded him of his mother's old silk robe. He missed his mother dearly. He couldn't stop the memories of his mother from flooding into his head. 

Harry was snapped out of his train of thought when Black Cat tapped on his chest. "Spider-Man? You there?"

He cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. I'm good," he told him, shaking his head and getting into a more serious disposition. He was ready for this. "Should we go in the back entrance?" Harry asked. There was a basement entrance that would take them to the employees section of the bank, giving them the element of surprise. 

Black Cat thought for a moment. "Chief Higgins said that Parker was in the main area of the bank, so that sounds good. How about you go in that way and I'll go to the main entrance. He wants revenge on me for putting him away, so I'll walk in. He was always a talker, so you take that time to sneak up on him and take him down. Okay?" he finished, staring at Harry intently. 

Harry nodded, relieved to have such a good strategist working alongside him. "Sounds good. I'll go now," he said, smiling before stealthily going around the building, going in the back entrance. 

-*-

Louis sighed softly as Spider-Man left to go to the back of the building. He stretched his arms and tail before walking to the entrance, slowly opening the front door and going inside. 

Thomas was standing in the center of a crowd of people laying on the floor, a gun held up to a crying little girl's head. "Shut the fuck up!" he snapped at the girl, kicking her with his leg. He grinned as Louis walked inside, cocking his gun. "Black Cat, we meet again. How does it feel knowing you caused all of this?" he asked. 

Louis narrowed his eyes. He was not going to take any of Thomas's shit anymore. When he wore his mask, he gained a lot of confidence. He could deal with anyone, probably his bullies included. His mask was a barrier to hide behind. "You caused this the minute you decided to do it. You committed your crimes, and you paid. Why are you doing this?"

Thomas laughed, pushing the little girl out of the way. "Why? Because you locked me up. Tore my family apart. I have to pay you back somehow. Then you can go home and your family can disown you too."

That made Louis' heart hurt. It had already happened to him. But he didn't let himself show it. He didn't have a chance to, before he saw Spider-Man jump out and tackle Thomas, disarming him and pinning him down. 

Louis moved forward and grabbed the gun, unloading it as the SWAT team broke in, going for Thomas. Louis, however, went over to the little girl and held her in his arms as she cried. "Shhh, it's okay," he murmured. He felt like he was comforting himself, the child that had just been kicked out by his stepfather, after being abused for so long. 

He looked up just as the girl's parents ran up and took her in their arms, the mother having tears in her eyes. Louis ached for his mother to hold him, tell him that it would all be okay. Then he remembered Star, and his chest had an even greater pain. His throat swelled up. He remembered that she would hold him and sing to him when he broke down. Now, he could only cry to himself if he was upset. He swallowed and stood up as Spider-Man walked over to him. 

"Hey," Spider-Man said, looking down at Louis. "How about we get out of here?"

-*-

Louis loved being able to hang out with Spider-Man after they finished their job. He was his only friend in the world, and he just enjoyed being in his presence. Louis also had a huge crush on Spider-Man, but he'd never admit that to him. No one was capable of loving him. He didn't want to lose Spider-Man. 

The two boys headed to the park. In the center of the park, there was a circular hedge about ten feet tall. They both jumped over it easily and laid down side by side to look at the clouds. This was their spot. They'd lay down and stare at the clouds or stars when they had the time. Louis loved every minute of it. Just him and his Spidey. Well, he wished he was his. 

Spider-Man sighed and looked over at Louis. "Are you doing okay?" he asked him, looking into his eyes when Louis turned to him. 

Louis bit his lip, wishing he could stare at Spider-Man's actual eyes, not just his mask. "Yeah," he lied, looking away for a moment. 

Spider-Man moved closer to Louis and cupped his cheek gently. "You're not. I know you're not."

Louis felt his threat tighten up, but he tried not to cry. "What does it matter anyways?" he murmured, closing his eyes. He loved the feeling of Spider-Man's hand on his cheek. 

Spider-Man rubbed his thumb on Louis' cheek. "Of course your feelings matter, Kitty," he told him sternly. There was something else in his voice, something Louis could pick out. Concern? ..Love? No, Spider-Man didn't love him. But he sure loved Spider-Man. He was sure of it. 

Louis sighed softly. "I just miss my mum," he admitted, opening his eyes again. 

Spider-Man nodded. "I know how you feel," he said softly. "I'm here for you, Kitty."

Louis smiled at Spider-Man. "Thank you, Spidey. I appreciate it. I really, really do."

Spider-Man sat up and looked down at Louis. "How's school going?" he asked. Louis had told him that he goes to school, but he had lied and said it was a private school for boys. "Are kids still being mean to you?"

Louis sat up with him and nodded a bit. "I get through it. I'll be okay."

Spider-Man sighed softly and lifted his mask slightly to reveal his lips, leaning over and kissing his head gently. "You know I love you, right?" he whispered to him. 

Louis bit his lip, wrapping his tail around Spider-Man and wishing so strongly that he meant it in the way that he himself did. "I know," he replied softly, one tear rolling down his cheek.


End file.
